Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. – Exposition

IBU: 28

ABV: 5.0%

In honor of Cincinnati Beer Week,I decided to showcase a gem from the Queen City herself: Moerlein’s Exposition Vienna Style Lager. According to Moerlein Lager House, this beer is “a tribute to Christian Moerlein’s first brews displayed at national expositions and crowned wherever exhibited,” so you know it’s gotta be good. Read More

21st Amendment – Marooned on Hog Island

ABV: 7.9%

IBU: Not Available

Wild Woods Brewery’s Berry Patch Wheat

Wild Woods Brewery’s Berry Patch Wheat is exactly what I’ve been looking for. You see it’s a gateway beer.  It’s the perfect beer to convert any tepid beer novice. Whenever I hear people casually sputter out the phrase “I don’t like beer” it feels like a mini heart attack turned mega aneurism. It’s like saying I don’t like cheese, or ice cream or America.

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Lindsay’s Smore’s Porter Nitro – New Belgium Brewery

ABV: 8.5%
IBU: N/A

You know one of the worst things about cold, miserable weather? Lack of camping. Experiencing the great outdoors, taking in some fresh air and cooking makeshift delicacies over an open fire. Camping is really the only time I ever eat marshmallows by choice (Easter Peeps not withstanding). There aren’t many better things than being with friends, drinking a cold beer and whipping up a batch of warm, gooey s’mores. So when I discovered Lindsay’s Smore’s Porter Nitro on my latest visit to New Belgium Brewery, I was pretty excited.

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New Belgium – Springboard

New Belgium’s Springboard is trying to pull a Jordan. Retired prematurely, away from the game – can it come back and regain the form it once had? Preliminary answer is yes.

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Jolly Pumpkin – Bam Biére

IBU: 25

ABV: 4.5%

Once upon a time I wrote for a beer blog. And then I drank the Westy 12  and my mind blew up and I stopped drinking or writing about beer. My brain can only take so much amazing… until I met Jolly Pumpkin Bam Biere

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Big Woods Brewing Co. – Busted Knuckle Ale

27 IBU

7.2% ABV

The first time I went to Big Woods Brewing Company in idyllic Nashville, IN, I was seriously ill. Okay, not SERIOUSLY, but I did spend the previous night puking thanks to a winding car ride through Brown County, and a dinner of crab cakes. Sorry for that visual. Anyway, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check out some new beer, but unfortunately I wasn’t really able to enjoy it either, so I was super excited when I heard my boyfriend’s parents were bringing us home a growler from their recent trip. Read More

Samuel Smith – Organic Raspberry Ale

ABV 5.1%

Samuel Smith makes four varieties of fruit ale – cherry, strawberry, raspberry, and apricot. I have tried all but the cherry and each are very similar. My favorite of the three is the Raspberry Ale. I am a bit bias though, because I like most anything raspberry.  For those who enjoy organic foods, you are in luck because this one is organic. Read More

Cincinnati Beer Week 2013: Embree’s Northern Dark Baltic Porter

Before I begin this review, I would like to give a heads up that this particular beer will most likely only be available to Ohioans, specifically Southwestern Ohioans. However, I am hopeful that this review will spark the interest of our national audience and perhaps even inspire them to take a little (or long) trip to the Midwest. I will promise you that it will be an awesome time! Maybe even a little too awesome seeing as The Business Insider just released its 2013 must hungover cities in the US and I am proud/embarrassed to say that five cities in Ohio made the top 25, making Ohio the most hungover state in the country! Shout outs: Akron, Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati.  Read More

Boulder Beer – Rum Barrel Porter

ABV: 6%

Boulder Beer Company’s Rum Barrel Porter is another addition to their unique taproom-only offerings. I suspect this is not only a limited release but a nano batch as their regular lineup does not include a Porter. Oftentimes the more creative libations can only be found in a brewery’s taproom, so visit your local taproom often.

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Three Floyds Brewing Co. | Zombie Dust

ABV: 6.4 | IBU: 60

3 Floyds Brewing Co.’s Zombie Dust has become the only beer I MUST track down any time I’m back home in Kentucky, or fortuitously find myself … Read More

Leinenkugel’s Snowdrift Vanilla Porter

Most Midwesterns are familiar with Leinenkugel Brewing Company. They’re the pride of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and brew some pretty unique beers.

Leinenkugel is out with a new winter porter with a slight twist – vanilla. Read More

Sixpoint Brewery – Resin

ABV – 9.1%

IBU – 103

Upon cracking the top of this slender, green can, the snappy scent wafts up to warn the drinker: this is no lager. The first taste is a bit of a shock – though the carbonation is fairly mild – and this beer lets you know precisely what 103 IBU means. However, once a few more sips pass over your palate, Sixpoint Brewery Resin‘s zesty bitter grapefruit juice flavor begins to shine through. This is the beer I buy to take to a party, and upon arriving, proceed to hide it in the back of the fridge so I’m not forced to share. Read More

Trinity Brewing Oh Face Saison

Style: Saison
ABV: 4.8%

Background

Here in Colorado the temperatures have dropped into the negatives the past couple days. So you would think that I would reach for a dark and heavy stout but no I went straight for the light refreshing characteristics of a Saison, Trinity Brewing Oh Face. Oh Face is part of Trinity’s Office Space-themed beers and is a complex saison that is fermented with brettanomyces then brewed with spelt, oats, rye, and wheat. Finally, it is spiced with pumpkin and lavender. If things go well, this beer should be showing me its oh oh oh face if you know what I mean. Read More

Flying Dog Brewery – Raging Bitch Belgian Style IPA

ABV 8.3%,

60 IBU

The scene was Lebowskifest 2009 (Louisville, KY). My friend and I had just finished riding our bikes across the Commonwealth just in time to meet up with our fellow Dudeists at the annual meeting celebrating all things Lebowski. In the parking lot of the Executive Lanes, a young man smoking an electronic cigarette (a relatively new concept at the time) approached us, and offered us a beer form his portable cooler. He cracked open bottles of a Belgian Style IPA that reinvigorated by tongue, which was falling asleep after a few Miller High Lifes. He touted the beer as the best thing he had ever tasted, a bold statement both then and in hindsight.

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Uinta Brewing – Hop Notch IPA

ABV – 7.3%
IBU – 82

Let’s face it, it’s hard to find a microbrewed beer that isn’t just downright good. As a general rule, if it’s ONLY available in a six pack, you’re probably pretty safe when it comes to taste and quality. A unique or catchy name gets one bonus point. Make it come from somewhere else and BOOM, you have the perfect basic microbrew equation – the Uinta Hop Notch IPA, an equation used and perfected by many of the vastly growing microbreweries. Why then, even when absolutely enjoying the culmination of doing the math correctly, does a very small part of the back of my brain begin to utterly loathe it? What could have possibly gone awry?

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Stone Brewing Co. – Double Bastard Ale

11.2% ABV

The name of this beer says it all. Imagine if Snooki and Kanye had a child together (maybe the most terrifying thing I have ever conceived…) and then Kanye left during his/her/it’s youth. What would the product be? The most menacing and arrogant adolescent ever. Double your arrogant DNA, and you get double the devil child. Stone Brewing Co. doubles their Arrogant Bastard Ale and boggles the mind with their palate smashing Double Bastard. Read More

Arcadia Brewing Company – The Big Finish Ale

ABV: 5%

I was about to run to the store when there it was, The Big Finish Ale, staring me in the face. This gem has been hiding in my fridge since the day after Thanksgiving, when my boyfriend, brother and I stopped off at Arcadia Brewing Company on our drive home. There are several reasons why this beer is awesome:

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Kiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Brew

Who said being a ginger was a bad thing? Well, it wasn’t me. Especially after experiencing the unique flavors of Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Brew from Kiuchi Brewery. A virgin to ginger beer, this brew definitely holds up to its name with strong notes of ginger roots in both the taste and the smell. It also has a great hoppy flavor for those who like IPA’s and light refreshing beer.

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Anchorage Brewing Co. – Whiteout WitBier

Whiteout WitBier – Anchorage Brewing Company

6.5% ABV

Even though a few days late for a New Year’s celebration, Anchorage Brewing Company‘s Whiteout WitBier is a bottle that is worthy of popping at any momentous occasion. This decidedly funky Witbier pairs perfectly with your most outRAGEous party. Put on your favorite party hat, crank up the jams and get after it! Read More